US immigration court blocks deportation of Tufts graduate student from Turkey, her attorneys say

By AUDREY McAVOY

An immigration court blocked the deportation of a Turkish Tufts University graduate student who was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, her attorneys said in court documents filed Monday.

Rümeysa Öztürk’s attorneys said the immigration court found on Jan. 29 that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t proved that Öztürk should be removed from the U.S.

The immigration court also terminated Öztürk’s removal proceedings, the attorneys said in a letter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing her case.

The department has the option to appeal the immigration court’s decision, the notice from her attorneys said.

Öztürk is a PhD student studying children’s relationship to social media. She was arrested last March while walking down a street as the Trump administration began targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. She had co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war in Gaza.

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